2

Oscar

When I woke up this morning, I didn’t expect a lot from my day.

Breakfast?

Sure.

Some morning sex?

Unlikely.

A couple of mundane meetings?

Yep.

Being abducted?

No, not so much.

Yet here I am, sprawled out on the floor of what I can only assume is someone’s mother’s minivan. There’s a long metal rod or rail of some kind poking into my back. My guess is that the person driving removed the back bench from the van so there would be room to transport me.

And now I’m in Dolly’s lap.

What the hell does she have to do with all of this?

“When we get to the apartment, Dolly goes in first.” The driver speaks to his passenger. His voice is deep. He sounds commanding, but that’s just because of his tone. I know leaders, and he’s not one.

“You get that, Dolly?” The passenger seems familiar with her. A sharp tang of jealousy hits my belly.

Jealousy?

“I got it,” she says. I feel her hand on mine, but I don’t move. For all she knows, I’m asleep. “I’m sorry, Oscar,” she says.

Well, she fucking should be.

I want to reach for my pocket. If my cell is still there, I can grab it and make an emergency call to one of my brothers. Ryan or Phoenix will be able to help.

Unfortunately, while this ragtag team of losers seem ignorant and sloppy, they also seem capable. I’m sure they took my phone already.

As if on cue, the passenger speaks.

“Did you turn off his phone?”

“It’s off, Craig,” Dolly says.

“Good.”

“She’s not stupid,” the driver says.

“Well, Hank, you could have fooled me,” Craig says.

What the hell is with these two guys?

And how does Dolly know them?

Dolly is what I consider to be a kind, cautious human being. She’s soft, and she’s sweet. She’s very interesting, and she has worked for my family for a long time. Years.

I don’t understand why she turned me over to these men, and I certainly don’t understand what they want from me.

Most of the time, when people want something, it’s from Phoenix or Ryan. They’re the better brothers. Ryan runs everything with Shadowvale Industries, and while Phoenix likes to stay out of the spotlight, he’s still pretty involved.

So, why me?

I wait to see if the trio is going to say anything about where they’re taking me or what they want. If it’s money, they’ll get it super fast. Ryan and Phoenix are both wealthy, as am I. Money won’t be a problem.

Unfortunately, the thing about abductions is that they never really follow the same rules, so chances are that there’s more happening than I’m aware of.

“I still don’t think you needed to take him,” Dolly says.

“You don’t know everything,” Craig says.

“Don’t I? You said you just wanted to talk to him,” she says. There’s an edge to her voice. She’s scared.

Why the hell would Dolly be scared?

“And I do.”

“Alone in the apartment,” Hank adds.

“You want to talk to him alone in the apartment? Craig, it sounds like you want to hurt him.”

Yeah, that’s not going to happen. I don’t know who these fuckers are, but they’re not going to hurt me. As long as I can actually regain my strength before we get to the apartment, I think I’ll be fine. I don’t move, though. I stay perfectly still.

Dolly doesn’t seem like she knew anything was going on, but I can’t trust her anymore. This is unfortunately because I’m forever two drinks away from asking her out. Dolly is kind-hearted and sweet. There’s a reason my brothers and I chose her as our receptionist.

“Worry about yourself.”

“Well, I’m not going to do that,” she says. “This is my boss, Craig. We need to return him in one piece.”

“Oh? Do we? I’m sorry, Dolly, but the world isn’t exactly going to be super sad if we’re suddenly down one weepy billionaire.”

Yeah, fuck this guy. If I didn’t already hate him, I sure as hell do now.

I try to listen to the roads as Hank drives. I’m not blindfolded, and as far as I can tell, I’m not tied up. I pretend to be passed out, though. When they open the doors, I can make a run for it, or I can fight if I’m not too weak. I can’t quite gauge how I’m feeling.

I also can’t quite gauge where we are.

I strain to listen. Are we passing anything I’m familiar with? It’s a big town, sure, but I know it inside and out. We don’t cross any train tracks, and it doesn’t sound like we’re close to any loud places. There are no bars, no clubs.

Where the fuck are we?

I stop thinking about that because the van slows. We turn left. Then Hank keeps driving.

“How much longer?” Dolly asks.

“Not much.”

“Don’t ask such stupid questions,” Craig says.

If I was a villainous billionaire instead of a normal, nerdy one, I’d definitely be killing this guy. Instead, I’ll just punch him. Yes. That’s what I’ll do.

Soon, the van stops.

“Get him inside,” Hank says. “I’ll move the van.”

“Where are you moving it to?” Dolly asks.

“We can’t just leave it out in the parking lot,” Craig snaps. “He’s a billionaire, dumbass. People will be looking for him.”

Will they, though? I’m not so sure. My brothers are occupied with other tasks, and our employees are busy. The truth is that even though I go to meeting after meeting, I also tend to have long periods of time where nobody needs me. It’s a strange feeling, being me.

Dolly knows this.

“People won’t be looking right away,” she says.

“What?” Craig says.

“They won’t be looking immediately,” she repeats. “Oscar is a busy man, but he’s just one part of the company.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning that it’s not like they’re going to send a search party for him,” she says.

“They will,” Hank says.

“Whatever,” Dolly says. She gives up.

The passenger door opens. I hear Craig get out, but I don’t move. Instead, I allow myself to stay limp. My best chance is going to be to wait until he pulls me out and into the apartment. Dolly will be there, but Hank will be out parking the car.

It’ll be easier to fight one man than two, and despite the fact that Dolly is somehow in cahoots with these guys, I don’t think she’s going to hurt me. Not on purpose, anyway. Oh, I sure as fuck want to hurt her, though.

She’s so fucking pretty, and she doesn’t even know it. That doesn’t mean that she can just do whatever she wants, though. Kidnapping? No. She knows better than that.

The back door slides open, and sure enough, Craig grabs my ankles.

“Help me,” he says to Dolly.

Together, they manage to get me out of the van. I don’t know how they’re going to get me inside without anyone seeing. It’s late afternoon, but it’s not dark. The sun hasn’t set. There will surely be people in the parking lot who see what’s happening, but maybe not. I keep my eyes shut, so I’m not sure if this place is sketchy or not.

“We don’t have a lot of time,” she says.

“I’m aware.”

“We don’t have to do this.”

“Dolly, shut the fuck up.”

I’m tired of the way Craig is speaking to her. How does he know her, anyway? I’m not sure. It’s bothering me, though. She deserves the world. She doesn’t need this guy talking to her like she’s unimportant, like she doesn’t matter.

“Let’s just get him inside,” Craig says.

Together, they carry me toward the apartment. I hear the van drive off. When we near the apartment door, they drop me, and Craig starts to fumble with the keys. I realize this is my moment. I’m only going to get one chance.

Immediately, I leap into action. I jump up, somehow landing on my feet.

“What the fuck?” Craig says. I swing, punching him in the face. I follow up with a second punch, and he doubles over. One more, and he’s on the ground. Another, and he’s passed out.

“Oscar? Oh my god. Fuck. I’m so sorry!” Dolly is crying, but I don’t have time for her tears. I do, however, have time to get out of here with her. I reach for the keys Craig dropped.

“Does he have another car here?” Surely he’s got a backup, regular sedan somewhere. Dolly just stares at me. I regret it, but I slap her. “Dolly! Get with me. Does he have another car?”

“Um, yeah,” she says.

“Show me.”

She nods, and she leads me to the parking lot we just came from. She points at a small black Honda.

“Get in,” I tell her. She doesn’t need to be told twice. Something in my tone must let her know that I mean business because she slides into the passenger seat, and I climb in the driver’s side. I start the car, and then I start driving.

We ride in silence as I leave the parking lot and start heading down the street.

“Spill your guts,” I say.

“I…”

“You’d better start fucking talking,” I tell her. “I’m a patient man, Dolly, but nobody is that patient.”

“I’m really sorry! I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”

“I don’t give a fuck,” I say. “What matters is that it happened. Now talk.”

“I…”

I grip the steering wheel. I hate that this is happening. I hate all of it. I wish Dolly wasn’t involved, and I wish none of this had happened. If this was up to me, I’d be at home right now. I’d be curled up in bed playing video games. That’s it.

“How do you know those guys?”

I’m going to try to make this easy for her so she’ll talk more. I turn onto a main road, and then I keep driving. I’m not sure where we are. I’m just guessing. Dolly doesn’t offer any suggestions, and I don’t ask.

“Craig is my brother.”

“Didn’t know you had one.”

“We aren’t close.”

“Could have fooled me,” I say.

“We aren’t.”

“And Hank?”

“Craig’s best friend.”

“What happened, Dolly?”

“They offered me money to get to talk to you.”

“Seems like they wanted to do more than talk.”

“I didn’t know about any of that.”

“Dolly.” There’s an edge to my voice I generally reserve for business deals that go awry. I don’t like the way I sound to Dolly.

“I swear I didn’t know.”

“What did they want to talk about?”

“The adoptions.”

Ah.

“How do they know about that?”

She doesn’t say anything.

“Dolly, you better fucking speak.”

But she doesn’t.